God of War launches this week on the PlayStation 4, and if you haven’t read our glowing review yet then you know what you need to do. With such a major release right around the corner, we figured that we’d answer a handful of your most frequently asked questions pertaining to Kratos’ latest and (arguably) greatest adventure.

When does God of War release?

God of War releases exclusively on the PlayStation 4 from 20th April, 2018. This is a simultaneous worldwide launch date.

Are there any pre-order bonuses for God of War?

God of War’s pre-order bonus includes three shield skins which change the cosmetic look of Kratos’ spherical defence mechanism. These don’t alter gameplay at all. Certain retailers (like GameStop or EB Games) are also bundling in the Luck of Ages XP Talisman, which increases XP and Hacksilver gain, as well as your Luck statistic.

When will God of War’s pre-load begin?

If you pre-ordered God of War digitally, then you’ll be able to download the game a couple of days prior to release. You’ll need to wait until launch day to play, but downloads should begin on 18th April, 2018 according to Sony.

Do you need to play previous God of War games to understand the story?

The new God of War game has a self-contained storyline which you’ll be able to follow fairly easily without any prior knowledge of the franchise, however there are strong references and call-backs to previous instalments which will lose context without a general understanding of the series’ history. We’d recommend either playing through God of War III Remastered on the PS4 or watching a recap video on YouTube if you want to get the most out of the game.

How long does God of War take to complete?

It’ll take you around 25 to 30 hours to complete God of War’s main storyline, although your mileage will vary depending on how many optional tasks you complete during the journey. To 100 per cent complete the game – including finding all of the collectibles, finishing all of the side-quests, and beating all of the optional bosses – you’ll need to set aside upwards of 50 hours.

Is there a day one patch for God of War?

There is a day one patch for God of War, but the details of this are bound by Sony’s embargo. We can say it’s not an enormous one, so you should be fine.

Does God of War have a photo mode?

At launch, there is no photo mode option in God of War. However, the team at Sony Santa Monica have confirmed that this feature is in the works, and will be patched in at a later date.

Does God of War have a New Game Plus mode?

No, there’s no New Game Plus option in God of War. You can, however, continue to explore the world in its entirety after the credits have rolled.

Does God of War have a multiplayer mode?

No, God of War is a strictly single player experience. There are no multiplayer features in the game at all, and you can enjoy everything it has to offer offline.

Will God of War have any DLC?

Sony hasn’t confirmed any DLC for God of War at the time of typing. It’s possible that the game may be extended with an expansion pack similar to the one released for Horizon: Zero Dawn, but this is purely speculation on our part, and nothing has been announced.

Does God of War have microtransactions?

There are no microtransactions at all in God of War.

Do you need a PS4 Pro to play God of War?

No, you can play God of War on a standard PS4 and have a great experience. On a standard PS4, God of War runs at 30 frames-per-second in 1080p; on a PS4 Pro, the game runs at 30 frames-per-second in checkerboard 2160p. The PS4 Pro also includes an option to lower the resolution to 1080p and run with an unlocked 60 frames-per-second target.

Does God of War support 4K or HDR?

Yes, God of War includes 4K support on the PS4 Pro. The game renders in checkerboard 2160p at 30 frames-per-second on the PS4 Pro. Both the PS4 Pro and standard PS4 offer HDR support, but only with compatible television screens.

What is included in the God of War Stone Mason Edition?

God of War’s Stone Mason Edition is its primary Collector’s Edition. In addition to including the game in a Steelbook Case, it also features a 9” Kratos and Atreus statue, four 2” carvings, an exclusive lithograph, a cloth map, the Stone Mason’s ring, and a keychain featuring Mimir’s talking head. You’ll also get some in-game content, including the Defender of the Chosen Shield, the Exile’s Guardian Shield, the Death’s Vow Armour set, a God of War digital comic, a God of War digital art book, and a dynamic theme.

It's been awhile since I played the others, how do save points work again? Can we just save whenever or are there objects in the game like the fires in H:ZD and TR? I feel like there were chests in the other GoW games but that doesn't feel right, that might have been DmC and Onimusha. Autosave in game maybe?

Related - how do respawn's work when you die? I always die.

I'm just not in a mood to play a game that has an hour of game play lost if you die b/c the save points are only after the boss fight thats going to kill me 12 times and I have to slog through an hours worth of minions each time before getting to the boss.

Save points weren't really an issue in 3 as it only lasted 8 hours anyway, if it's a 25 hour game I'm going to be saving a lot, I usually only have about an hour a night to play, kids monopolize the TV the rest of the day. I played 1 and 2 before kids had TV privileges.

I do think this game will have similar DLC to H:ZD. Maybe even a game+ mode added in a few months like H:ZD had, and they already said the photo mode is coming later H:ZD did. So I'm sensing a pattern. But I'm thinking of playing it anyway now, and if it's good enough I can then play the "Complete ed" in a few years on the PS5 in native 4k at 60FPS. Who knows, maybe H:ZD and GoW will let you swap character models on PS5, play H:ZD as Kratos and GoW as Aloy, won't need the kid Aloy can jump.

@get2sammyb congratulations on a very useful recap article, again with no spoilers at all. I ran recently into a page of a gaming site which will remain nameless and they were discussing something about GoW which seemed absolutely spoiler less. Only for the author to start his article with an atmosphere (minor) spoiler. Ugh.Kudos for staying true to preserving our untarnished first run Sammy. Great job!

@get2sammyb I haven't played Rise of the Tomb Raider, but I thought it was similar to Uncharted; linear levels. Bit since you mentioned Metroidvania, I was under the impression that it was an ''open world'', similar to Metroid Prime, or even the 3D Zelda games.

@Octane Nah it's much more open than Uncharted. Ocarina of Time is a fine comparison; there's a hub with different areas sprouting off it. And yeah, it has a Metroidvania aspect to it where there are places that you can't access until you have the right abilities.

@porhawj2016 I gave it a 10/10 so I'm very happy with the new direction.

@get2sammyb yeah that why Uncharted 4 don't have map by using touchpad to see things like treasure chests so i am considering this game is like Rise of the Tomb Raider. will i able to continue playing after complete main story for missing any trophies i need ?

@get2sammyb Can you say anything about the trophies? Are a lot of them story-related, challenges, etc? I know they leaked a while ago, but since I'm avoiding spoilers, I'm staying away for now. Was hoping you could shed some "spoiler-free" light on the subject

@Rudy_ManchegoI smashed through most of it on Sunday. Final Boss can do one though, just had another try this afternoon. Might have one more go later, but that's it.In fact it all gets a bit tasty towards the end...

I will reiterate in a standalone comment here: do NOT look at the Trophies if you don't want to get spoiled. The Trophy list is the biggest spoiler you'll find anywhere. It's absolutely ridiculous how Sony's prevented reviews from mentioning various things in the game, and then the Trophy list is just going to reveal them all anyway.

@get2sammyb lol who are idiots packed trophy list ? yeah some people like me who want know if trophies are easy to get platinum trophy beside each difficulty to play and complete.. Uncharted 4 crushing trophy is kinda pain in the ass because do dual sword against Rafe was pretty hard to dodge at right time

i think Detroit Become Human will take us to grind alot of times for collect all trophies to get platinum trophy like get all ending, all 3 characters stay alive and died like that. Until Dawn was grinding too much for me to get platinum trophy : need get all characters stay alive and die

@jdv95 same here.. Farcry 5 arcade mode is so annoying as hell. grind to level up to 20.. ughh. COD, Overwatch, Battlefield have amount of insane trophies in MP and co-op. A way Out look cool but co-op trophies is difficulty if any friends who don't want buy it and play it with you

@Rudy_Manchego At least you're in a better spot than me...I'm gonna play through all of them before playing this one, and I haven't even started yet. I'm waiting for them to go on sale. If Sony would just hurry up and start the next flash sale (which I feel certain will include some God of War games) I could get started.

@CountFunkula78 I'm hoping I can manage it but not if I have to deal with difficult bosses. Especially if they involve QTE's.

@Giygas_95 Yeah - I managed to get 1 and 2 collection on Vita in a sale over a year ago and 3 on PS4 last month in the EU PS digital sale (went to about £9.99). I think I got two of the PSP games on PS Plus for Vita but haven't had time. I really can't believe these weren't part of a big sale. Maybe because it is so different they wanted it to be their own beast.

@Rudy_ManchegoIn the final stages the QTEs are like the relief/rest phases. Just going in for round 3 with the big Z 😲😵I'm not even enjoying it any more, I'm just too close to the end to quit.Having said that, it was a brilliant game.

@get2sammyb OK, you already answered my question above, was going to ask about how open world it was. I'm still playing Horizon which I think by any definition would be "open world" even after putting 155 hours into Zelda:BotW. One thing I've liked about GoW is the linearity, like Uncharted. It's the impression of a big world but they drive you forward. Was hoping for that focused linearity here but the feeling of a big world. Haven't played RotTR yet but the reboot was perfect. Well the world was perfect, story was too all over the place, I rarely had any idea what was going on. U:LL was really well done too.

Good job keeping it all spoiler free, can't be easy. And with all this talk of spoilers I'm guessing there must be some, which has me excited for the game. Action is great, but I like an interesting story, Zelda kinda lacked that, it was almost as sandbox as Minecraft.

@get2sammyb I missed OoT, but TP seemed like a remake so close enough. It's really more about what my wife likes, she usually watches me play story driven games but skipped Zelda and Horizon b/c after watching me run all over the place doing sidequests in FFXV she got bored. And this GoW seems to have a story around Atreus, so we'll focus on that. If Atreus wasn't in it honestly I wouldn't even be getting it and I'd play RotTR instead. I liked how GoW 3 ended, I was done w/ Kratos, but this seems almost like a TLoU story, so we're in. Though I still haven't told her yet.

Feel free not to reply to this, anything you say will be spoilery somehow.